We know that this last year has been incredibly intense for you as a business owner. Thank you for staying committed, being so resilient, and fighting so hard to keep your business going in the midst of such extreme circumstances. Thank you for all that you are doing for your team, community, and the economy.

Whether your business has been temporarily shut down, you have adapted and found new opportunities, your sales are growing, but you are having supply chain issues or any other version of the complications that every small business owner has faced or is facing right now, your determination is inspiring. It would be ideal if the difficulties of 2020 came to an end quickly but the reality is that the rebound and recovery from COVID-19 will be a long process. While we hope that you benefit from fair loans and grant programs to help you through this period, what we really want you to do is to find new creative ways to keep selling. There is no better capital for a business than revenue, and as the old saying goes, “In every crisis, there is opportunity.”

Keep reading for top tips on how to activate the media, get properly set up for online connecting, and explore creative ways to work with partners.

Media Top 3 Actions

1 – Build A Solid Foundation To Engage Press

Take a free Master Class on how to get PR and create a media list, craft a custom pitch about your business and set up a press page on your website.

2 – Write a Tips Article, Much Like This One

Write a tips article leveraging your area of expertise. Writing a tips article is a reasonably quick and easy way to pitch the media. News cycles and sound bites move so fast it can be hard to get a big media hit. Still, they are always looking for quick and easy pieces of content to publish.

3 – Become An Expert In Your Industry

Be very clear about the niche or area that you would like to be considered an expert. Then sign up for at least 2 trade associations in that area and get yourself set up as an expert on platforms.

Online Connecting Top 4 Actions

1 – Ask For Online Reviews

It used to be true that having a strong online presence and reviews only mattered for retail businesses, but now it matters for everyone. Make a list of 30 of your best friends and customers and do a direct campaign asking them to write a review for your business.

2 – Set Up Web Listings

Set up your company’s business page on top-ranked websites so that when people search for your business or businesses in your category, they find you. Start by making sure you are set up on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and LinkedIn.

3 – Start a Newsletter

Writing a newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with your existing clients or reach new ones if you distribute it through your social network or re-purpose it for your blog’s content. Set up the structure, and start to create a regular newsletter that you send out to your database, post as a blog, and/or release on a social platform.

4 – Offer High-Value Content On Your Website

You must have a strategy to ensure you capture the contact information of your website traffic so that you can turn those people into actual leads and sales. Offer high-value content like a quiz, an ebook, or templates, and set up a call to action on your website so that people are incented to give you their email address in exchange for access to your exclusive content. You will then be able to communicate with them and keep them engaged.

Partnership Top 3 Actions

1 – Cross Referrals

Find partners who share your ideal client and run cross-referral campaigns to “share” ideal clients and drive growth for both of you. You vouch for each other to each of your respective client bases and networks and let your customers know about each other’s offerings.

2 – Sell In “Bulk”

Find partners who would want to buy your product/services in bulk for a better rate so that they can make it available to their clients. Selling what you do one by one is great (every sale counts!) but selling what you do ten by ten is even better!

3 – Sell Together With Partners

Work with partners to bundle your offerings so that when either of your ideal client’s buy from one of you, they are given the opportunity to buy from the other. In these partnerships, you each agree to sell each other’s offerings as an additional “up-sell” or “add on” when selling your core offering.

As we deal with these unprecedented changes, it is important for you to ground yourself in the things that make your business special that you do not want to change while also being adaptable and creative to innovate where necessary to meet the needs of our current reality. We sincerely hope that you will find it of value, and we challenge you to take action by choosing 3 of the ideas in the guide and get to work!

Have you implemented any of the ideas above already? Are there any other creative ways that you were able to generate revenue for your small business? Please let us know in the comments below!

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